Before We Even Met
by Magical Reality
Summary: Lucy is having a horrible nightmare where hated memories come back to haunt, dead loved ones are revived, and her closest friends think she is worthless. *Oneshot* (No intentional shipping)


**I haven't done anything in a while so sorry if this is kind of random. Anyways... hope uz like!**

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There was fire. Fire was everywhere. Lucy blinked a few times to clear her vision. It did little though. Everything was so blurry.

The only thing she could make out was a tall tree. It towered high and eerily above of her. At first she thought it was the tree near the guild hall, but she realized that this one in front of her seemed to be half dead. The bark was a blackish brown color and the limbs of the tree were twisted in horrific designs that Lucy had a hard time following. She also noticed that the area around it seemed to be dead and dry.

She tried to stand up so she could inspect it further, but she was roughly pulled back toward the ground. She glanced behind her shoulder and gave a frightened gasp when she saw her wrists were bound by two cuffs and two chains plunged deeply into the ground.

The flames around her moved closer and closer as she struggled and writhed against her chains. "No! NO! Please! Someone help me! HELP ME!" she screamed in panic. She felt the flames licking at her legs and feet, tempting to char her skin. "NO! STOP! STOPPPP!"

Suddenly, the flames went out and the light was replaced with blue fire burning the dead tree limbs above her head.

Lucy gave on last struggle on the chains and managed to break free. To her surprise, they came off with a loud snap sound and she whirled around just in time to see two vines retreating into the earth. She took a step forward to inspect it, but stopped when a small voice called her name. "Lucy."

Lucy froze right where she was standing. That voice...

"Lucy. Help me Lucy."

Lucy whirled around again to find a scene she had tried so many times to erase from her memories. Her best friend cuffed to tree with a brand on her bare stomach. Levy.

"No! Not again!" Lucy cried as she dropped to her knees and put her face in her hands. "Don't make me watch this again!"

"HELP ME!" she screamed.

"Please no..." Lucy whispered as tears streamed down her face. "Not again..."

"Your just a silly girl."

Lucy looked up. Levy and the tree had vanished. She found herself standing in a long hall with red tapestries and a long rug. Portraits also hung on the walls and Lucy noticed one in particular. "Mom..."

She took a tentative step toward the picture and noticed something flounce at her feet. She looked down to see a white skirt flowing from her waist to the floor. "How did I get into this?"

"Your just a silly girl."

That voice. Lucy knew it to well. She turned and saw standing at the end of the hall, Mr. Jude Heartfilia.

"Dad... your alive?"

"Your silly and a distraction."

Lucy shook her head and took a couple steps toward him. "No! I just wanted to be your daughter. But you shut me out. You really were a horrible father."

"Was I?"

Lucy turned again to see the most recent image of her father standing before her. Tears crept back into her eyes. "I just wanted to say goodbye!" She rushed forward to hug him, but as soon as she got her arms around him, he withered to ashes. "Daddy!"

Suddenly, the hallway went dark. A second later, a red glow lit the sky. Lucy looked down again and saw that her white dress had vanished. She was now wearing a long sleeve black shirt and long black pants.

"You wanted to impress me? Your stupider that I thought, Lucy."

The voice that the words came with pierced her heart. "I wasn't trying to impress anyone, Erza."

"Is that so? Why do I feel like your lying to us?"

"Gray, I never..."

"Your way to positive, Lucy. The world isn't that beautiful of a place once you see the people who are destroying it."

"Natsu..."

"Stop fooling yourself. Darkness is real and you've got to accept that. Before its to late."

Lucy looked away from them and clenched her fists. "You don't mean that."

"Of course we do, Lucy. Your just a silly girl, dreaming and fantasizing."

Tears filled her eyes. "You don't know what your saying, Gray."

"Oh yeah? Then why did you join our little guild of orphans? Did you wanna rub it in that you still had some family left while we had none?"

"I... I never said that. I wasn't... trying..."

A cold hand clamped onto her shoulder. "You are a failure."

The tears ran down Lucy's face as she turned to she her little sister standing behind her. "Michelle..."

She was wearing her black rose outfit and her eyes were black and showed of hatred and murder. "A failure... failure... failure..."

The others joined her chant. "Failure... failure... failure."

Lucy fell to her knees and buried her face in her hands. "No... stop it. Stop it! You don't know what your saying! Stop! Stop!"

"Stop... stop..."

"Lucy. Lucy wake up," Erza said, shaking the dreamer by the shoulders.

Lucy moaned and continued to roughly toss her head back and forth. Suddenly, her whole body jerked and she screeched, "STOP!"

"Lucy!" Erza called one last time before shoving the girl out of her bed.

She fell on the floor with a loud thunk.

"Why do you have to be so rough with everyone?" Gray asked.

Erza turned to him and placed her hands on her hips. "A friend doesn't let another friend suffer from nightmares."

"Hey, look guys. I think she's wakin up," Natsu said, pointed to the blonde.

Lucy had stopped thrashing. She was still for a moment and then sat bolt upright breathing heavily.

Her friends though, were surprised and unsure of the tears in her eyes.

"What a horrible... horrible..."

"Lucy? Are you ok?" Erza asked, kneeling down beside her and placing a warm, comforting hand on her shoulder.

Lucy flinched a little at her touch and then turned to look her friend in the eye.

"Er...za?"

"Yes?" she replied with a small frown.

Without warning, Lucy sprung up and wrapped her arms around Erza. Erza fell backwards a bit from the impact. Then as Lucy began to sob into her shoulder, Erza calmly wrapped her arms around her.

"It's ok. It was only a dream. Nothing to fear in the least."

The two boys stood above their friends, unsure of how to comfort Lucy.

Erza looked up at them and gave them a "if you don't do something to help Lucy now, I'll kill you later" look.

The two gulped and then looked at each other. Gray then took a step forward and circled Erza so if Lucy were to look up, his face would be the first she'd see. He placed a hand on her blonde head and said, "It's over, Lucy."

Natsu stood there for a bit longer. It must have been a pretty stressful dream, judging by the way she was yelling earlier and then by her reaction now. Hmm. I wonder if we were in it?

"Natsu.."

Natsu looked down when he heard Lucy's faint voice say his name. "Yeah?"

"Do you think I'm too... positive?"

Natsu, surprised a bit by her question,thought for a moment and then replied, "No... well sometimes, but I think everyone really enjoys your positiveness. It makes us... happier."

Lucy nodded and her sobbing slowed. "Gray?"

Gray blinked, a little surprised she would call on him. "Yeah, Lucy?"

"Do you think I was ever trying to rub in the fact that I still had a parent while the rest of you were orphans?"

Gray knew the answer to that without doubts or second thoughts. "Of course not. We accepted you, orphan or not. We never cared, even if we considered you lucky."

His words were reassuring and Lucy stopped crying. "And...Erza?"

"Yes?"

"Just so you know, I was never trying to outrank or impress you. I look up to you."

Erza was touched by the celestial mages words. "I know Lucy. I've always known," she replied, hugging her friend closer.

"You guys really are the best friends in the world."

Natsu kneeled down next to the other three and put a hand on Lucy's shoulder. "Really, Lucy? You just figured that out?"

Lucy lifted her head off of Erza's shoulder and out of under Gray's hand. She turned her tear streaked face to Natsu's grinning one. She smiled. "No Natsu. I knew before any of us met, and that we would be friends till the end."

Natsu put a hand on Lucy's head and ruffled her blonde hair. "Yeah. And we'll always there for each other. No matter what."

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 **Please tell me if you liked it! Thanks so much for reading!**

~*Magical Reality*~


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